


If it's Tuesday, It Must Be Hawkins

by snowzone5



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Mileven, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 12:16:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20257951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowzone5/pseuds/snowzone5
Summary: El Hopper is a charter bus lines tour guide. She doesn't want to do the tour she's been assigned. But then she meets one of the passengers. This one a little more adult in nature, but nothing explicit.





	1. Saturday

El Hopper could not figure who thought this crap up. _T__our the small towns and villages of Indiana in a week_.

Seriously? Who the hell wants to live in a small town in Indiana? When she saw the list of towns she knew that at least one of them was a town that nothing ever happened in. Some random town. And if nothing ever happened in _that_ town. Chances are nothing ever happened in any of them.

That's what made learning about whatever _did_ happen in them would be boring. But she was going to be the tour guide for this chartered tour so she _had_ to learn about them in mind numbingly dull detail.

And it wasn't like she was going to get laid in each town either. She'd promised herself a long time ago that she would not sleep with anyone unless she loved them. She wasn't like her friends that would drop their panties at the first guy who took an interest in them.

El had set the bar a lot higher for herself. Her dad always told her that she was smart, and she was pretty, so getting a boyfriend was never going to be an issue with her, but he also told her she was damaged, and assholes would take advantage of that.

Sure, she was lonely, but she didn't want to be lonely _and_ heartbroken. So she waited. Maybe the right guy would come along, maybe not, but she was not going to undermine her principles.

It was probably the reason she decided her summer job away from university should be as a tour guide for chartered buses. She would get to meet people, which she really liked doing. Who knows, maybe the right guy felt like touring the armpits of Indiana.

_That's not fair_ _El_… she thought to herself. You are just bitter that you get to see new places and beautiful towns without actually sharing it with somebody.

Instead of going out Friday night with her friends, she studied brochures and maps, local history books on the towns.

The first one they'd be stopping at was Dyer, really just a suburb of Chicago, but it was night and day from the Windy City.

There were two things that bothered he about her upcoming job. One, her boss told her to wear a tight skirt with high heels, keep her hair down with her dark framed glasses. And maybe wear a sheer white top that you could almost see through. And a push up bra. He'd actually said it with a straight face, could she wear a push up bra and maybe undo another button on her top.

She was furious, she asked why the change from her usual company uniform, and he said the tour was specially charted for university kids getting working on their Geography Major. There wasn't going to be any alcohol allowed on the bus, but you know, "university kids will sneak on booze."

Great, so in between getting her ass grabbed, she would be ogled the entire time. Because it was a special request from the university she was getting paid by both her company and the university, she'd make almost four times what she usually made for tour. She made her whole months rent for this week alone.

So she would put up with it. As degrading and sexist as the whole thing would be she'd do what she was asked. She wasn't shy about her body, she'd spend the first ten or twelve years of her life in a hospital gown and nothing else, so she'd gotten over body shyness.

She made herself a quick stir fry, got her clothes ready for the morning and went to bed early. The bus was leaving at five in the morning, and she had to be at the university by then. She had no idea how long it was going to take to get there but she was going to leave herself two hours to get dressed and get there. Traffic might not be too bad at that hour.

XXXXX

"Arggh! This can't be happening to me."

El had squeezed into the tight skirt and saw that her panty line looked like she was wearing somebody's granny panties. Every single line and seem could be seen. Not just the university students but _anybody_ who saw her would laugh. Some of the girls would be sympathetic.

There were two fixes for this kind of emergency. One was to wear a thong. But she didn't own one, and besides she didn't feel like having her ass flossed the entire day. She didn't know how other girls did it. She like to think she wasn't that vain.

The other fix, was to forego panties. Her cycle was finished for the month, so she was safe there. Once she put the skirt back on she felt much better. She had to admit her bum looked pretty good in them… of course the reason for that was the skirt was so tight you could read the date on a dime stuck to her ass cheek.

She felt humiliated. But… sort of sexy at the same time. This was a new experience for her. She usually just wore dress slacks for the tours, jeans at school, and track pants in her tiny apartment.

"If my skirt rips I'm in trouble." She grabbed her high heels and put her running shoes in her luggage.

El didn't own a car and the buses weren't running this early. Well, if they were she didn't have time to wait for one, so she took a cab.

It was still dark out when she was dropped off. She quickly pulled on her high heels, and stuffed her runners into one of her bags. The coach bus was waiting, running to get warmed up. The driver leaning against the side smoking a cigarette. A few yards away were a group of students. Only five… a few yards away from that group were two others. Obviously not part of the bigger group.

She walked up to the bus driver. "Small town tour?"

"That's the one," he said. "You ready Miss Hopper?"

"Call me El, pease." She gave him a smile.

He smiled back, "Ok, call me Benny… please."

"Benny it is, give me a few minutes to round up our charter."

He walked up the steep stairs of the bus.

She walked up to the group of five students one of them was a girl, but asked the tallest one, "Small towns?"

He turned to look at her. And she was very happy that she was wearing no underwear because they would have been an instant mess.

He was more than good looking. His shaggy black hair fell around his shoulders, his smile made her knees a little wobbly.

But his eyes.

His eyes had known pain. They were confused and smiling at the same time as he looked at her. Her heart hammered in her chest and she stammered out in a squeeky voice. "Small towns?"

"Yes, sorry, the five of us, and those two guys over there. Um, I will wait till everyone gets on."

She gestured for everyone to get on the bus. The two guys who stood by themselves… she found out they would be her oglers… always some in a crowd.

She and the tall university guy were the last two.

"He said after you." She nodded politely. Oh great, he was going to stare at her ass while she walked up the steep bus stairs. She'd read him wrong after all.

Once at the top of the stairs, she took a quick look back hoping to catch him staring, but he was looking down at the stairs politely.

Her heel broke and she fell out of the bus sideways. He head would either hit the bottom metal stair or the pavement just outside of the bus.

Instead, her head hit something hard, but not bone crushingly hard. She heard a grunt and fell on top of the university guy. He broke her fall.

She was lying outside of the bus, both his and her feet were still resting on the bottom step. He had his right arm around her waist, and his left hand holding on to her right breast as she lay sideways on top of him. Her head rested on his.

"Are you ok Miss?" The guy said. Benny came rushing out of the bus to help her up. She looked back at the student, who was clearly embarrassed to be holding her like that.

She held out her hand to help him up, "are _you_ ok? You completely broke my fall."

She got close to him, "I'll confess that usually I like to know at least a guy's first name before I let him get to first base." She smiled but was then horrified that he turned so red his face was almost purple."

"I'm sorry," she said immediately, "I didn't mean to embarrass you. I think you saved my life."

He nodded, "I'm Mike Wheeler."

"El Hopper. Again, I'm sorry, that was a little crude on my part. I'm not really like that."

"It's ok Miss Hopper."

"El, please."

XXXXX

"Ok, every time we get on the bus, I make a head count."

"Hey, she gives head." One of the two students from the other group said from the back of the bus."

"Say that again Troy. I want to kick the shit out of you.. Go ahead."

El looked at Mike, shaking his head looking like he wanted to crawl deeper into his seat. Looks like we have at least one loser and one gentlemen on the bus.

She checked off Mike Wheeler's name on her clipboard. And Troy Walsh's. The girl had to be…

"Maxine Mayfield."

"It's Max. Nobody calls me Maxine."

"Ok, Max…. Dustin Henderson?" A curly haired student held up his hand.

"Will Byers?" A smallish student held up his.

"Lucas Sinclair." Another hand raised.

"James…"

"Present and account for _head_ mistress." He snickered with his friend. A quick look at Mike and she saw he would not meet her eyes.

"Ok" She walked down the aisle to the back of the bus.

She looked at the two of them, "I'm sure the driver and the other students don't mind if you two make out back here, but keep try to keep the noise down? Deal?"

She leaned forward and said in a low voice , "So keep your pants on, I don't want you to throw off my _head_ count."

James and Troy stopped snickering.

Max tapped her arm on her way back to the front seat. "Don't let them bother you."

"They don't bother me Max. I've dealt with much worse than that."

"You shouldn't have to."

"No, we shouldn't. But we do don't we? It all comes down to how we deal with it."

Max gave her a smile. "You don't let anyone screw with you do you?"

"And you don't either do you Max?"

Just like that. El Hopper was friends with Max Mayfield.

Mike was sitting in the second row, the tour guides always got the front seat.

"I want to thank you again and… oh… oh" She saw that Mike had a large black eye must be where she'd hit her head. It didn't not take away from his looks whatsoever.

"Benny can you stop at a gas station in the next few minutes, I want to get Mike some ice for that eye."

"El, if the only thing I got was a black eye from saving a pretty girl's life. I'd consider that a good compromise.

Somehow El Hopper got to the first row. She didn't know if she walked their, floated there, or melted through the seats to get there. But she found herself sitting in the front seat wearing white running shoes.

The grin on her face was so wide she knew her cheeks would be sore in no time. Benny gave her a wink in the mirror.

"Smile looks good on you."


	2. Sunday

El was pleasantly surprised by how nice _Dyer_ was, and that she was able to talk about it enthusiastically. She was nervous that her attention kept being directed towards Mike Wheeler. She tried to avoid looking at him, but it was obvious from the smile and eye-rolling coming from Max that she was failing miserably at it. There was something about Mike. She didn't know what kept drawing her attention to him.

Every time she looked at him, he was looking at her intently, like he was trying to figure out who she really was. She felt uncomfortable at first, but then his intent look would break into a smile that made her body _respond._

She let the students off and told them to be back at the prearranged time and place the next morning.

What was also obvious to her was that the hardest thing about this entire charter was going to be _not_ staring at Mike Wheeler's beautiful eyes. And ok, not staring at his ass every time he was in front of her. That was was going to be much harder. She would give on that one though.

Once they were all back on the bus, El ran through the obligatory count, told them they had almost a five our trip to _New Harmony_, but because the place was so small they'd only be spending a few hours there before moving on.

She thought she would be unable to sleep. _All_ she could do was think about Mike. What it would be like to hold his hand… hold _him_. To kiss him. Maybe entice him to sleep with her. That would break the promise she'd made to herself… but… maybe it would be worth it. Maybe they would _connect_ and that could lead to something more substantial. _Maybe_ wasn't going to cut it for her though. If she gave herself to him and he turned out to by just another horny teenager, she'd feel used. Her self-respect would drop a couple of notches. She wouldn't be able to face him the next day.

But she _had_ slept. At least a little. She knew because she had the same dream, nightmare really. She was in the void, someone with a face she couldn't see was telling her he would never give up on her. She had no idea what that meant.

She knew she wasn't going to be able to sleep on the bus now that she was awake, even though it was still dark out. It looked like everyone was flaked out in their chair except for Mike in the second row.

She walked to his row and said, "mind some company… oh, you're busy… sorry." Damn. She really wanted to talk to him to maybe see why she kept thinking about him. If she was talking to him it would be completely impolite to not look deeply into his eyes. At least, face him anyway.

"Just finished up." He was writing in a _Fieldnotes_ notebook. I would _love_ some company."

El smiled, smoothed her skirt and sat beside him. "Were you drawing a map?"

"I was," he smiled back, "I used to make all the maps for my D&D campaigns, and I guess I just gravitated towards map making… so taking Geography with the intent of being a Cartographer."

El looked around, "that's a lot of map makers on the bus."

Mike chuckled. "I'm the only one with a geography major, the rest are in the course because their major requires it, and this tour. As for those two idiots back there, they think it's an easy course so they signed up."

El made some uncomfortable movements with her shoulders.

"Those underwires are a pain in the ass aren't they?"

"It's not my ass that's in pain… and anyway, how do _you_ know, mister?" She laughed.

"My older sister used to make the same movements, when I asked her why, she explained and scarred me for life. Tell me your boss told you to wear this outfit."

El laughed again. "My boss told me to wear this. I need the job. And by the way, I'm really sorry about my comment yesterday. Your eye is looking a lot better now after holding the ice on it."

Mike nodded. "Thanks for getting the bus driver to stop. You know it's really too bad in today's society that girls are still asked to do that. So… that makes it completely inappropriate for me to to say, but hey, I'm a university student, it's expected… you are wearing the hell out of everything you have on. Shit… uh, no backtrack, sorry. I realized you may be going out with the quarterback of a football team, I don't need him punting my head."

El blushed. She never thought a guy could make her turn red. This was a first for her. "Not me. I'm a single pringle."

"Same here. I found out a long time ago that girls were just not interested nerdy dungeon masters who could draw maps. At. _All_"

"With those eyes?" She clamped her hand over her mouth. Her face felt hot, she could see that Mike's cheeks were getting pink.

"Ok so to continue this mutual appreciation club… I know in today's climate this is _also _totally unacceptable, but you, Miss Hopper, and the prettiest eyes I have ever seen. They completely took my attention away from the fact that you're not wearing any underwear."

El put her face in her hands, "please tell me it's not that obvious." The obvious things seemed to be escaping her today.

"You have to know what to look for… or not too look for in this case. More traumatizing information from my sister. If your skirt wasn't so tight I might not have noticed."

"I wonder if the Benny would stop the bus so i can go out dig a hole and crawl into it." She was shaking her head, her face still in her hands. "Are you always this honest?"

"Yeah, but never this forward… there is, uh… um… uh, there's something about you. I almost feel like I know you. Ok _that_ didn't sound too much like a line. Except for Max back there, I think I've said more words to you than I have to any girl I've met. And, uh, if I'm way out of line I'll dig a hole next to yours and crawl into it. I don't know what it is but you are really easy to talk to… and I'm blabbering on. Another thing I've never done with a girl. I should probably stop now before the real nerd stuff kicks in and you find your original opinion of me was right."

El felt a tingle. It seemed that maybe getting to know each other wasn't going to be completely out of the realm of possibility. There were complications of course, if they got serious, if he wanted kids, her hair, if he wanted to know more about her… her past…. Shit. This wasn't going to work.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

She got up suddenly and walked back to her seat in the front row.

No sooner had she sat down, with a depression coming on when Mike sat in the seat beside her.

"My bad. I was too forward… that was a brand new experience for me and I guess I made an ass of myself. I guess I said something way out of line… uh, a couple of things if I recall." Mike looked down. "Sorry. That's really not me either."

He got ready to stand up, and El put a hand on his shoulder. "It's not you Mike. It's me. It's not… it would never… I don't think it would work out between us… if that's what you were thinking..."

He nodded , "yeah, kind of what I was thinking. I will take your word for it that it wouldn't work out. You have your reasons, I won't pry… but… um…" He sighed, "there's always a danger when you begin a relationship that one or both people will end up with a broken heart. I…," Mike stopped talking.

"What were you going to say?"

"I was willing to risk a broken heart if it meant getting to know you… being with you. I was going to risk it. Don't ask me why. I feel like in an alternate universe or something we worked past any roadblocks that came our way… because… ok this is going to sound like another bad pickup line… because… we were actually meant to be together. There. I said it. I'll go cringe now."

She looked at his eyes. She could find no deception. "You're totally serious?" She tried to keep the smile off her face and the laugh out of her voice.

"Yeah, and wow, did that ever bite me in the ass. I was being serious, didn't think it was all that funny." This time he got up and went back to his own seat.

She immediately followed him back and sat in the seat beside him again. "I wasn't laughing at you… or about to. I… I come with a lot of baggage."

"We all have baggage to a certain degree El. We all think it might keep us from a relationship."

"In my case Mike, I think it would."

"Well, let me tell you some of my baggage. I never had a strong father figure in my life. My mother was probably screwing around on my dad and was always trying to be me and Nancy's friend to make up for it. Never had a girlfriend. So never kissed a girl. I'll probably suck at it if it ever happens." He laughed. "That's the first thing that comes into my mind whenever I meet a girl for the first time. Of course that means I've never been in bed with a girl." Here he flushed a little, El thought it was cute that he was confessing everything to her. "I know how it's done, but I expect my first time to be… um… awkward to say the least. Embarrassing for both me and the girl. And then there's the nightmares." Mike was suddenly quiet.

"You wake up screaming? That's not so bad." El said trying to reassure him.

"I wake up crying." He looked down. He sounded so sad that El wanted to hug him and tell him it was ok, that she was there for him.

"What's the nightmare about?"

"It's the same thing almost every night. I'm trying to find the girl I love, but she's gone. Not dead, at least I'm sure of it in the dream. I call her on a walkie talkie every night, I tell her I won't stop looking for her, that I'll never give up on her. I can almost feel her presence, and that I'm really close… and I can almost sure I can see her… but then… then I wake up crying. I feel an incredible sense of loss and grief. It's overwhelming..."

El froze. Ok that was a weird thing for him to say. Was her nightmare related? That seemed like way too much of a coincidence. Not to mention impossible.

"But the baggage doesn't end there. Want know the real reason I've never been to bed with a girl."

"You're not going to tell me that there hasn't been girls that weren't interested? I don't believe that for second."

He blushed again, "No, I've had offers, nothing ever come out of them. But I'd be breaking a personal rule."

"No one night stands?" El asked.

"Sort of… I won't sleep with a girl I don't love. My sister told me in one of our cringeworthy conversations that sex was always going to be better with a girl you loved. Is that corny and baggage-y enough for you?"

"You really let loose." El smiled at the guy she was sure she was falling inexplicably in love with. Because there was _something_ there. His nightmare seemed to be the other half of hers.

He gave off a big sigh, "it was incredibly cathartic. I feel like I unloaded all my baggage… so… wanna screw?"

They both burst out laughing at the same time. El said, "not unless you love me."

He was suddenly serious again. "Yes, back to reality. So no confessions from you?"

"Mine are much worse… and I'm not ready… and you aren't ready to hear or see them."

"Ok." He sounded disappointed that she had reciprocated with at least one possibly embarrassing fact.

"Miss Hopper?" El got up out of the seat and went to talk to Benny. In the bus's wide rearview mirror s he saw Mike watching her as she went up. There was no doubt about it. He was looking at her ass. She felt tingly again. What if they _both_ went against their personal principles and just said hell with it and jumped into bed?

_Wouldn't work El. Baggage. Remember? Shit_.

The loudspeaker crackled when the microphone went live. "Sorry, everyone but there's been a change of plans. Benny tells me the bus is experiencing some issues so we're not spending the morning in New Harmony, and moving on, we'll spend the day, and night here, but leave even earlier, tomorrow morning. The population is only a little over seven hundred, so I don't think there will be much of a night life here. I expect they roll up the sidewalks here early."

She went through the New Harmony tour info which turned out to be interesting also.

XXXXX

El was finally in her baggy sweatpants and sweatshirt. She was almost feeling totally relaxed. All that was missing was some wine… and the other thing. She didn't think wine or spirits could be found in New Harmony but she could be wrong. Ah well. Long bath, tea and early to bed. Alone.

She heard a knock on the door. The chain was on, but she opened it cautiously. Mike was standing there. He looked to each side, his face was a study in paranoia, and then he smiled and opened up the gym bag he was carrying. It was a bottle of wine and two glasses.

"Mind some company?" She smiled, closed the door, undid the chain and opened it wide and let him in.

"I swear, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you could read my mind." She told him.

"You look nice and relaxed. Wine seems to be the only thing you're missing."

El laughed, "yes… it was… and one other thing. Ok, big baggage reveal. " El said and felt her face go blank,

Her eyes only had one question. She reached from behind her head and grabbed her hairline with two of her fingers to pull off her wig.

Her extremely short cropped hair was revealed. It was a much lighter brown than the dark wig she'd been wearing.

"Still pretty?"

He didn't even glance at her hair, he sat his gym bag down, walked quickly towards her. He put his left hand on the back of her head almost to her neck, and pulled her gently to his face. She parted her lips slightly, turned her face up ever so little and closed her eyes in anticipation of his kiss.

When his full lips softly pressed to hers, it touched off a triple hammering in her heart. He didn't try to jam his tongue down her throat. His other hand didn't try to make it's way under her sweatshirt or pants. In instead, it held the small of her back and pulled her the tiniest bit closer.

His kiss was not hungry or demanding, instead it was a simply a sweet promise. He held the kiss until he could taste her tears. He pulled slowly back in alarm, "are you ok?"

"I wasn't… expecting that." She said.

"You didn't think that an instant new hairstyle was going to change the way I feel did you? …and for the record… yes, still pretty. Really pretty."

"It's not going to grow." Her cheeks were flushed at his compliment. She had never been told she was pretty with this hair. Most guys saw it and then looked away so they didn't have to make eye contact with her.

Except for the kiss, Mike had not stopped looking into her eyes.

"Ok… are you alright though? You aren't undergoing, um, treatment?"

"No, nothing like that.."

"Um, ok… I'm going to guess that this isn't even the only baggage you were worried about. I… uh… I will stick around for all of it. I mean, if you want to tell me, or if you want nothing more to do with me, then ok, you can tell me to leave… I hope you don't… I _will_ stick around for all of it. And even afterward. I promise."

"You don't know what you're promising Mike. You know nothing about me."

"I know what I'm promising. It's one of thing things you don't know about me. When I make a promise, I keep it. A promise is something you can't break. Ever."

"That sounds like something about bunch of kids would say." El gave him a half smile.

"That's exactly when we came up with it. You know what? It served us well. Served _me_ well. We have another saying. Friends Don't Lie."

This all sounded too good to be true. Mike sounded too perfect. He _acted_ too perfect. Did he just want to sleep with her? One and done? She was ready to admit that her only regret in wearing a tight skirt was that she would not be able to hike it up fast enough if he wanted access to her.

But now that she was wearing sweatpants, it would be no barrier to surrender to him right here. Maybe she could test him. She was terrified of the potential result of that test.

"So you will never lie to me? When I tell you my story, every ugly detail, you won't come up with some bullshit excuse to get away from me as fast as you can? Is that what you are saying?"

"That is what I'm _promising_."


	3. Monday

El sat on the bed cross-legged and looked at Mike. He hadn't said anything in a long while.

She figured he was letting it sink in. She'd told him everything and to hell with the consequences.

"Say something Mike… please?"

"I don't know what to say El. You really hit me with both barrels didn't you?"

"And?..."

"I'm still here El. What you had to go through was awful… but I'm still here."

"You must have a ton of questions."

"Only two."

"Only two?"

"Yeah, and only the answer to one of them determines if I walk out the door right now."

El looked down. This was it. She was about to get dumped from a relationship she wasn't even _in_ yet.

"First question, and this is not a deal breaker. Can you really move things with your mind?"

El lifted the bottle from his gym bag and put it in his hand. "Pour me a glass of wine."

"I didn't think you'd lie about that." Mike grinned at her, and then in a more serious tone. "Ok, I'll keep that secret, even if for some reason we don't work out… I will keep that secret for you… I promise."

"_That_ wasn't the deal breaker? I guess I'm scared of the next question."

"Can I stay the night?"

"But you don't love me Mike… you'd break your own promise."

"Correct. I will just sleep beside you and hold you all night. You need a super long hug, and that's the only way I can comfortably give it to you."

"Ok, a compromise. Halfway happy." El said.

"Halfway happy… I like that." Mike grinned.

Except for the parts where she cried her heart out, it had gone very smooth. Mike didn't think she was crazy, he had accepted everything she said at face value. And he was holding true to what he said, he was not going to sleep with her, not tonight. He was just going to comfort her.

"Tell me again what planet you're from?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Girls never get to know me. I was way too nerdy."

"I'll tell you a little secret that only girls know."

"Will you have to kill me afterwards?" He laughed.

"Maybe," she winked, "in today's world all girls expect all guys to be assholes. Sorry, that's just the way it is."

"Um, El, that's not really much of a secret. I'm on social media, I know what the current atmosphere is like. Nerds have always been doomed, so no real change for me there."

"Well I like _this_ particular nerd. He's going to hug me all night long… not only that, neither of us are expecting anything more to happen. I can't tell you how refreshing that is. Having said that. Let's go to bed, another early day tomorrow. How should we do this Mike?" She asked trying to keep the smokiness from her voice.

"Uh, hmm, I didn't really think it through that far… I could spoon you, or you could just snuggle up to me?"

"Snuggling wins… thank you Mike."

He laid back and El was quick to snuggle close up against him. "You know our relationship is not going to be normal…?" He said.

"It's already not normal. _I'm_ not normal."

"You are amazing. I don't think I could have come through your experience as well as you did."

"I decided a long time ago I wasn't going to be a victim. I wasn't going to be a heartless bitch, but I never going to be a victim… never again now that I can do something about it."

XXXXX

El woke up smiling. She was almost lulled back to sleep from Mike's gentle breathing. His arm was around her waist holding her firm.

"It was you." She heard him say in a whisper.

"Yes, and I saw the face of the person who was never going to give up on me. It was _you_. Somehow, last night I knew it would be." She sighed. "Other than the obvious, do you know what _didn't_ happen?"

"I didn't wake up crying. I think my soul found yours. I have the feeling I'm never going to have that nightmare again."

She gave him a squeeze, his voice was very calm and she was a tiny bit thrilled that it was her presence that was giving him peace of mind.

"Ok mister, we have to get up, Benny will be firing up the bus soon."

"Where are we going today?" Mike asked.

"Hmm, Monday? Williamsport. Take a little over three hours on the bus. You can nap if you want… or talk to me..." She smiled at him and headed to the bathroom to get dressed.

XXXXX

Once on the bus Mike settled in his seat and El sat beside him. "Everyone is sleeping. Five A-M starts are always like this." She whispered to him.

"I see you wore your wig today? Didn't feel like fending off questions?"

"Not about my hair, no. Not this trip, I won't wear it again after this charter. I want you to see me _au natural_."

He chuckled. "I guess you also went with the no panties option today?"

El couldn't believe herself but she felt all tingly when she said it, "Well, I don't know naughty boy, why don't don't you find out?"

And she really didn't expect him to actually try and find out. She held her breath as his hand snaked its way up her tight skirt.

Once her breathing had settled, he he kissed her cheek and whispered to her "I hope feeling up your girlfriend is legal in this state."

"I'll tell the judge that it's much better if someone else does it for you instead doing it yourself." She answered in a sultry voice. "Does this mean?..."

"Yeah. I think I loved you even before we met. We were meant to be together El. We've been dreaming about each other. Sounds corny. I know. But now that I found you I don't want to spend a day without you. Not one day."

"I'm going to get freshened up. Here, all you need is a Wet-Nap for your hand." She pulled out the package and handed it to him.

As she walked by the student named Troy she saw him eyeing her bottom. She bent over to him and whispered, "dream on asshole, touch my ass and you'll want to do a finger recount."

El cleaned herself up in the tiny bus bathroom, Mike's fingers had done their job and her body had responded. A _lot. _She would reciprocate tonight. She had listened when he said he didn't want to spend a day without her. She could hear it in his voice. They would be together tonight and probably every night after that.

And probably forever.


	4. Tuesday

After the tour and note taking for the Monday morning, they were on their way to Hawkins. They would get there in the wee hours of the morning and find the closest hotel.

As they were getting off the bus in the hotel parking lot, Troy caught Mike looking at her and sneered at him, "get real loser, no way you're tapping that bitch tonight." He looked immediately confused as El leaned into his ear and said loud enough so at that everyone on the bus could hear.

"Not only is he tapping this b-me, but he's going to do it all night long. Just plug your ears if you get the room next to ours."

Troy turned red and quickly left the bus. Max yelled, "Woohoo, you go, girl!"

El looked slightly embarrassed and head her head down as she left the bus. She completely forgot to grab her bags but saw Mike following her carrying her bags along with his own.

"What an asshole." Mike said, "you had a better come back than I did. I don't think I've ever seen him red faced before."

"He's pissing me off." El said, her eyes had a stormy look to them. Her head tilted forward.

Mike looked at her and realized he knew what the look was, "No, El. Don't. It's too risky for a display like that. Even at night this in the age of cell phones and Youtube."

"You're always going to be the voice of reason aren't you?" She smiled at him.

"I will help keep your secret."

El sighed, "You're right. One day I'm going to get myself in trouble… at least I used to think that."

As they were walking to the hotel front door, Mike leaned and whispered to her, "Um, do I get a separate room?"

She waggled her eyebrows at him, "what do you think?" She tried to keep her voice as husky as possible.

Mike turned red.

"I'm sorry Mike, I don't mean to embarrass you."

"It's ok El. I'm not really used to the attention. I'm in brand new territory."

"I'll try not to jump you as soon as we get into the room."

"Well, don't try too hard, ok?"

El laughed.

He felt a lot more subdued once he was actually in their motel room.

"You're really nervous aren't you? Mike, I have no experience at all, but I'm really good at acting calm, cool and collected. I am _none_ of those things right now."

"Ok, so then I should tell you that I'm probably only going to be good for two or three times."

"_Two_ or _three! _Ok shows you how much I know, I figured I'd be lucky to get one from you and maybe not too soon. As for me Mike… I'm… capable of… oh this is so embarrassing… I can have multiple."

"Ah, geez, no pressure then."

"I'll tell you what," she held the hand that he used this morning, "You used these on the bus… but, " she put her finger across his lips, "I want you to use these _now_."

Mike turned red again, but his breathing increased.

"Do you want me to keep my wig on?"

"No El, take it off. Take _everything_ off."

XXXXX

"Mike," El said in a weak voice. "You have to stop…"

Mike looked up at her. "You ok?"

"I'm deliciously ok… but I have no more cookies left."

Mike chuckled at the euphemism as he crawled up beside her.

"I'm exhausted, let me rest a bit… Mike… I don't care if we are together or not… but I want to marry your tongue." El said as she drifted off to sleep.

XXXXX

El woke up twenty minutes later and said, "Your turn."

XXXXX

"We have to stop, El. We've been at it all night long."

"Ok," she sounded disappointed. "I don't know where you learned all that from, or where you got your stamina from, but I will be the happy recipient of all of it. We can sleep on the bus. We have to go now."

Mike looked over at the hotel room clock, "Ugh. We can save some time by showering together."

El winked at him, "Ok…"

XXXXX

El awoke, groggy, she'd fallen asleep on Mike's side in the second row in the bus. Mike awoke with her also groggy. "Where are we?"

"If it's Tuesday, this must be Hawkins." Her eyes suddenly went wide as she could feel it happening, and she grabbed her overnight bag. She headed towards the back of the bus to the bathroom.

After she'd taken care of her problem she went back to Mike. He said, "you ok El? You changed out of your skirt?"

"I had to, I…" She clapped her hands over her eyes, "This is so embarrassing. I'm um… _draining_."

"El, your face is beet red, sorry I didn't think you were having the monthly thing. I hope you weren't too uncomfortable last night."

"I'm not draining me, Mike… I'm… draining _you_."

"Me. What… oh… uh…" She could see Mike's face take on a deep crimson. "Uh, I never thought about the cleanup."

"They never talk about that part in books or movies, not nearly sexy enough," El laughed, "No worries, Mike, I'll gladly clean up after that. Just knowing it's happening makes… um, never mind. I can't do you on the bus."

Mike laughed. Then stopped and looked down. His face was suddenly very serious looking and a tinge of worry creeped into her brain.

"What is it?"

"Um, I need to tell you something. I didn't expect it to be a problem, but after meeting you and now that we are… together?" She nodded her acknowledgement."You should know."

"My program in college was finished. I was moving back to Hawkins. This is my hometown and this tour was a free trip back. I already shipped my belongings back to my parents place here."

El knew that she needed to tell Mike her own situation. "I'm from Hawkins, too. Sort of…"

"But I thought... " Mike lowered his voice to a whisper, "The lab was here? That must be the Hawkins lab…" Mike's face took on a thoughtful expression.

"I did the same thing you did Mike. This was a free trip. I made all of my arrangements ahead of time too."

She saw an immense look of relief on Mike. She knew right away, "It means we can be together, sooner, because I really don't want to be separated from you."

Mike nodded, "I was thinking the same thing."

El put on a mock deadly serious face, "You know what this means don't you?"

She felt bad when Mike looked worried again shaking his head.

"You will have to meet my dad."

"I figured that El, goes with the… oh wait… your dad is Chief Hopper isn't he?"

El smiled and nodded. "You don't look worried?"

"I have an ace up my sleeve."

"And that… is?"

"I know we are just starting out, but I feel like our love is solid. You're dad will see that."

"Our love _is_ solid Mike."

"My parents will see that too."

"What do you mean _your_ parents?" El felt uncomfortable.

"Oh, you get to meet the whole Fam Damly." He smiled at her.

"I can wear my hair. It'll be ok Mike."

"No wig El. I want them to meet you as you are… the perfect girl… for me."

El felt her face heat up. "You'll be with me, so it will be ok."

Mike looked out the window, "we are almost there."

"Hawkins." They both said at the same time.


End file.
